


love and betrayal

by laurenkmyers



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Confessions, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27902986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenkmyers/pseuds/laurenkmyers
Summary: Ian Beale (the snake) tells Ben about Callum's betrayal, followed by Ben maybe, sorta confronting Callum in his own way. He needs to know the truth.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	love and betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: please could/would you write a little something of ben confronting callum? the possibility of ian telling ben. 
> 
> this ones for you, gemma <3

Ian _fucking_ Beale.

Brother, grass, snake.

The hilarity of watching his poor excuse of a brother getting hauled off in the back of a cop car earlier had worn off the moment he heard they’d let the bastard go. The rage he’d felt during their confrontation in front of the Vic comes back in full force, the taste of it leaves a bitterness in his mouth, like inhaling smoke, the way it burns the trachea all the way down. His head is filled with murderous intent, and he sees nothing past the bashing at the end of the tunnel. Ian’s going to pay for what he’s done.

Ben hauls his way past the bar and up into the kitchen where he finds his target, pottering about doing the dishes.

“Thought you could get away that easy, did ya brother?” Ben says from the darkness of the hallway.

Ben watches Ian flinch with his hand in the sink, notices the way his shoulders hitch up, and his back stiffens the moment the words reach his ears. His own footsteps ring loudly through his implant. Ian turns around, his soapy hands in the air- a picture of utter ridicule.

“Wait! Ben, wait- ho-hold on.” Ian’s flailing causes the corner of Ben’s mouth to turn up in a devilish grin. He loves watching his brother squirm like the gutter rat he is. He pushes closer to the table in which Ian is attempting to hide behind, jutting forward with both fists clenched. _God, he’s going to enjoy this._

“What about Callum, eh?” Ian blurts as he takes a jittery step back, cornering himself against the kitchen counter. Ben tilts his head in confusion. “Why aren’t you bashing him around for what he’s done?” The glint in Ian’s eye no longer shows that of fear, no- he’s found his way out, manipulative right until the very end. Ian eyes him, purpose and something resembling triumph in his gaze as he stands a little straighter than he was before, still backed up as far away as possible, however.

“Or does Callum get a free pass because he’s warming your bed?” He finishes, making sure to leave the sentence on the brink of crudeness; enough to pique Ben’s curiosity, and yet, furious in the fact that he’s not really telling him anything, choosing to leave him hanging on the edge of a very sharp knife.

Ben’s defensive nature over Callum fires up immediately. His fists clench and unclench as he lets Ian’s words roll over in his mind.

“Callum? Why you bringing Callum into this?” Ben snaps, with a healthy dose of annoyance.

Ian’s smile darkens, and it riles Ben up something awful. He’s never wanted to wipe the smirk off someone’s face quite like he does now. The thoughts swirling in his brain cause quite the picture. A punch to his smug ass brother’s face, split lip, black eye, broken nose, black and blue and red. He can see it clear as day, can almost taste it. And then Ian laughs, long and loud.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you? Well, let me enlighten you. Callum’s boss wants Phil. And he’s using you to get him. Told me himself after he confronted me about the 999 call.” Ian lets his words linger for a moment before continuing, “Failed to mention that did he?”

Ben takes a step back, trying desperately to process everything, but nothing seems to be making any goddamn sense.

Callum.

 _His_ Callum.

Betraying him like this?

Admitting it to Ian of all people?

_There’s no fucking way._

“You’re lying.”

Ian laughs again. “Am I?”

Ben’s blood boils. He’s had enough of this bullshit. He slams his fists down on the table in front of them and Ian flinches, the smirk disappears, only to be replaced with the intoxicating fear that has Ben taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He’s still got it. Control.

“You’re not even worth it.” Ben says, low and dangerous. He’s weirdly proud of himself for holding back, knowing that Callum wouldn’t want him to stoop so low.

Ian looks so small hunched over the counter, and yet, despite Ben’s clear and obvious restraint something still niggles at the corner of his brain as he watches Ian crawl out of the gutter to spew one last, harsh statement, weak as Ian Beale may seem at the best of times, his bark has always been better than his bite.

“You really are pathetic Ben. Constantly seeking daddy’s approval after all these years, so single-minded in your constant need for love that you can’t even see that your boyfriend is trying to take down the Mitchell Empire right under your nose. I always said Callum was too good for you, you know? It’s not even surprising that he’d sell you out in the end. Pity he didn’t do it sooner.”

Ben doesn’t even hesitate after that, all he knows is that one minute he’s turning to walk away, taking the moral high ground, and the next he’s pushing the table out of the way and lunging at Ian, knocking him square in the face and reeling his hand back in for another forceful punch, but before he can make the second blow count his phone starts ringing loudly in his pocket, stopping him dead in his tracks. Ben flexes his bloody fist out, shakes off the agony of flesh meeting bone, and reaches for his phone. It lights up with a message from Callum.

_Please don’t do anything stupid, Ben. I know you’ll do the right thing in the end. Come home soon- love you x_

The next few moments are a blur, Ben mindlessly puts his phone away without acknowledging the message, and then he turns and watches Ian flop around on the floor, holding his bloody nose in the palm of his hand for longer than he should find comfortable. It leaves him with a sick sense of joy. He bends over the hunk of quivering limbs representing his big brother and grabs him by the scruff of his neck to pull him close.

“You got off lightly, Ian. You come near me or mine ever again and I _will_ kill ya next time, d’you hear me?” Ian whimpers and nods frantically as Ben throws him back to the ground. “Now stay down there where you belong.”

***

Ben forces his way through the heavy doors of The Vic and out onto the dark, empty street of the square. There’s so much noise. It’s overwhelming in the worst possible way. His implant amplifies them all tenfold; the dull hum of the cars driving past, the echo of the train jutting over the tracks, the swish of the wind whipping its way through the trees. He tries to block them all out, tries to focus on something else; anything but the words of betrayal that seeped from Ian’s lips.

Ben stumbles home, praying that his dad is far away from the conversation he’s about to force himself and Callum into having. Praying beyond hope that Ian’s lies are exposed as exactly that. Lies.

The second he opens the door he can already sense that Callum is waiting for him, can feel the worry radiating off his stiffened muscles. Ben walks into the living room and paces- can’t quite figure out how to say what he’s got to say, doesn’t have the guts to ask for the truth just yet, as much as he _needs_ to know it, he _can’t_ say the words out loud.

Callum approaches him like a hunter approaching a wild bear, hyperaware of every tick, every movement- even the slightest transfer of weight could cause him to seize up. But he knows. He’s always been clever, Callum. So in tune to Ben’s every emotion, the way he lets himself be overcome by his anger lets Callum know that _something’s happened._ Something _bad._

“Ben?” Callum whispers his name so quietly that it’s almost impossible to tell whether he’d actually said it in the first place. But when Ben turns his head to look over at Callum he knows that it’s now or never.

“Ian got released.” He goes with, choosing to see this through in a calm and controlled way, because he can’t think about the possibility that this might go south very quickly. He can hear the way Callum’s breath hitches in his throat, not once looking directly at him, focussed only on the dried blood on his knuckles; it makes him angry for some unknown reason.

“You got something to say, Callum?” And Ben eyeballs him, following closely as Callum sags into the sofa, the way his hand rubs desperately at his eyes, and then finally the way he looks up at him with an air of calm across his face and asks,

“Where’s the body? We need to make sure you can’t go down for this. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Ben feels like he’s been hit by a fucking freight train, because not only was he not expecting that response, like, at all- but the worst thing about being accused of murdering your own brother by the love of your life, is when they do it in the most serenely calm way by offering to help cover it up in the same sentence.

Ben has been through a lot of shit, seen a lot blood, caused a lot of pain, but never in his life has he ever had someone choose him so explicitly. Callum forgiving him for having someone else commit murder is one thing because he never actually did the deed himself so it’s _kinda, almost, maybe_ understandable, but having Callum openly accuse him of outright murder and then offer to help protect him? His head is fucking spinning, the ringing in his ears is ferocious, he feels like he’s gonna pass out.

Callum is on him the moment his body decides to fail him. He’s caught by Callum’s strong arms as they both slide to the floor.

“Ben, look at me- LOOK AT ME!” He says, grasping his head in large hands. “Where is he? We’ve got to go, now!”

Ben laughs, and laughs, and laughs. His thoughts are causing such a goddamn utter meltdown he can’t help it.

“He ain’t dead, Callum!” He splutters through his laughter.

Callum stills, though his hands twitch next to Ben’s ears.

“Y-you didn’t-”

“-Ian may be a snake, Callum. But his bite isn’t going to kill me. And I haven’t killed him neither. Because he only thinks he’s dangerous, but really- he’s just a pathetic little house snake who’s been de-fanged. It’s the venomous snakes you’ve got to watch out for. Because you see the thing about venomous snakes, Callum, is that their bite can be deadly- puncturing right through flesh as their poison seeps into the blood stream. Some snakes are so dangerous you can’t even feel their bite until it’s too late. You’d be dead without even having time to process the fact that you’ve been bitten.”

Callum is looking at him like he’s lost the fucking plot, and he’s right to think it, maybe he has. Waffling on about snakes and poison when all he really wants is to know the truth.

“Just tell me it ain’t true, Cal. Please, I can’t take it anymore.” Ben pleads as his head falls into the crook of Callum’s shoulder and neck.

“What ain’t true?” Callum replies, resting his chin on top of Ben’s head.

“Tell me you haven’t betrayed me too.”

The way Callum’s whole body shudders gives him away instantly, and yet all Ben can do is clutch tighter at the man who, despite the dark nature of Ben’s world, has chosen to stay by his side through it all. He thinks there has to be an explanation in the end, but for now he’s just content in the _knowing_ and that Callum is, miraculously, still here, holding them together as they both try not to crumble under the weight of love, and the price they’re both willing to pay to keep it.

**Author's Note:**

> come and fangirl with me over on tumblr: laurenkmyers


End file.
